Strength In Drug-fight Unity

July 24, 1986|By Yellow

Crack cocaine -- cheap, pure and deadly -- finally has moved area police agencies to begin working together to fight drugs. That's no small endeavor. This week about 20 Central Florida departments -- which will be joined eventually by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, prosecutors and federal immigration and drug agents -- announced a combined effort to fight crack cocaine.

The need for this kind of cooperation is obvious: Drug traffickers don't deal their junk in one city or county. They travel all over. So, too, must the police in trying to nab them.

But to be effective, police have to do more than just grab immediate headlines with an announcement of cooperation. They must sustain an effort that doesn't falter under the age-old problems of turf- guarding between police departments and lack of trust in sharing intelligence information.

Regional police cooperation is the only way to fight this deadly drug problem.